The system described here can be described as a "back-room" operations applications comprising a system.
In late 2008 Don Rickert Research and Design was retained on a 1-year contract by Goldleaf Financial Solutions to perform a number of Research, Field Observation (Ethnography) Human Factors, Usability, Information Architect and Design tasks for a new product. The work was top secret, but I can say that the end customer was one of the top Financial Institutions in the U.S. and the world.
The product was a completely new “Thin Client” (i.e. Web-based) system of applications to be used by large banks in their check balancing processing centers. The system interfaced with a number of “back-end” systems, non-interactive as well as interactive. The system also interfaced with a number of physical devices used in the process of sorting many thousands of paper checks from local bank branches daily.
Deliverables
Summary of Final and Intermediary Deliverables Described in the Following Sections.
Final Deliverables
These are the tangible artifacts that Goldleaf Financial Solutions needed to ensure a great User Experience for the thin client (web-based) check balancing application.
- Plausible research evidence to drive and justify design decisions
- Formal Report
- User Experience (UX) Design Patterns
- Information Architecture
- Wireframe (low-fidelity) prototypes
- Medium to high fidelity prototypes
Intermediary Deliverables
These are tangible artifacts needed in order to create the Final Deliverables. The main Intermediary Deliverables were:
- Personas
- Scenarios of Use
- Use Cases
- Qualitative Data
- Audio and Video Recordings
- Field Notes
- Photographs
- Consolidated Documentation of Observations and Interviews
- Analysis (actually an activity rather than a deliverable per se).